Dhankhar refers three Bills on IPC, CrPC, Evidence Act to Parliamentary Panel on Home Affairs

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday referred the three Bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs for further scrutiny.

The committee headed by BJP MP Brijlal, who is former Uttar Pradesh DGP, has three months' time to submit its report, indicating that the Bills could be placed before Parliament during the Winter Session, which usually begins in the third week of November.

According to the Rajya Sabha Bulletin-II, Dhankhar in consultation with the Speaker has referred The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023, as introduced in the Lok Sabha to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs.

The three Bills were tabled in Lok Sabha on the last day of the Monsoon Session on August 11.

Death for mob lynching, community service as punishment for petty offences, using electronic and digital records as evidence and summons through electronic mode form part of three new Bills introduced in Lok Sabha, as the Narendra Modi government intends to replace colonial-era codes.

Introducing the Bills, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that these Bills will transform India's criminal justice system and the aim will not be to punish but to provide justice.

Congress has accused the Home Minister of “lying” and misleading” the Parliament by claiming that some sections like punishment for mob lynching, hate speech, zero-FIR and e-FIR are newly added to a Bill that proposes to repeal colonial-era codes when it is already in operation.